Tag Archives: JG

AbstractThe problems with the design of the Eurozone came into focus when, late in 2009, several member nations– notably Greece – failed to refinance their government debt. The crisis that followed was not entirely asurprise. When the Euro was launched in 1999, many economists warned that the single currency was unworkable. Even Eurozone optimists argued that the Euro project would eventually need to be completed. More than 10 years after the crisis, unemployment rates remain elevated and...

The GND proposed in the US already includes a JG. Now it looks like Scotland is in play, too. Asked if a Job Guarantee would be part of her vision for a Scottish Green New Deal, [First Minister] Nicola Sturgeon says: “‘Yes’ is the short answer.” A Job Guarantee would involve the state acting as an ‘employer of last resort’ to the unemployed, and was last year proposed in the United States by Senator Bernie Sanders Finance Secretary Derek Mackay warns that more powers over employment law...

First, of course I welcome this. Second, a job guarantee is a logical part of a Green New Deal, which offers work in every constituency by ensuring jobs are available everywhere to transform our green infrastructure, and most especially our housing. Third, it has to then be noted that this policy is linked to modern monetary theory, which is the only current school of economic thought that makes full employment for those who want work its core objective. And fourth, and inevitably, this...

In mapping out what I think are the essential aspects of a social transformation that we might call a Green New Deal, eliminating precarious work is one of the priorities – it is intrinsic to creating a more equitable society in harmony with nature. This aspect also calls in question the role of a Job Guarantee. Note the capitals – there is only one Job Guarantee but many jobs guarantees. I will explain today why the Job Guarantee will be an intrinsic part of the Green New Deal but by far a...

Together with Esteban Cruz and Pavlina Tcherneva I have written a chapter in a book on the Eurozone. It has been published by Revista Economica and is available for download here (PDF). This is the abstract…. econoblog 101New chapter on Euro Treasury and Job GuaranteeDirk Ehnts | Lecturer at Bard College Berlin, research assistant at the Technical University of Chemnitz, and spokesperson of the board of Pufendorf-Gesellschaft eV in Berlin

The House of Representatives didn’t know what hit it.The Green New Deal, introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in February, energized politicians on both sides of the political spectrum with its twin goals of carbon neutrality by 2030 and the promise of jobs for every American. It also polarized them. Critics have one main question: How the hell are we going to pay for it?As the guy responsible for the plan’s “jobs guarantee,” Andrés Bernal, 32, has a lot to answer for. And...

Apparently the British Left is “fizzing with ideas for a smarter economy” according to the UK Guardian article (May 12, 2019) – The zeitgeist has shifted. Now the left is fizzing with ideas for a smarter economy – written by Will Hutton. I can’t say I sensed an outbreak of fizz. But in the colloquial language from where I come from, the term fizzer means “Something that promised excitement but instead was a disappointment”, Yes, Hutton’s fizzers include promoting the insights of a...

Now that MMT is going mainstream, the MMT version of a universal permanent job guarantee that pays a living wage is under scrutiny. Here is an April 2018 presentation on the MMT JG proposal by some of the American MMT economists that clarifies the MMT position.Key government spending for public purpose falls into important categories, including 1) public service employment, 2) public investment and 3) public welfare (different from "welfare" as transfers). The first and second are about...

Hilton asked Trump: "You’ve got people who will see that offer from the Democrats, from the progressive Democrats, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: ‘Here’s the Green New Deal, here’s the guarantee of a job,’ and think, ‘yeah, that’s what I want, it’s that simple.’ What do you say to those people?" To which Ivanka responded: "I don’t think most Americans, in their heart, want to be given something. I’ve spent a lot of time traveling around this country over the last 4 years. People want to work...

Decades before it caught on with other economists, Sadie Alexander was the first economist to recommend a government jobs guarantee in the US.… Many contemporary economists have endorsed this idea, which is often credited to Hyman Minsky in the 1960’s[1]. But, its genesis actually begins two decades earlier, with Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, America’s first black economist. Good to know. Like the fact that Aristotle wrote that money/currency (nomisma) is a creature of law (nomos)....